


Vegetarian Pizza

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: F/F, Femslash, fem nagisa, fem rei, genderbent, its a little angsty sorry, some episode 5 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-11 23:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2087802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hazuki Natsume is about as confident as a girl can get. For a tomboy who's about as unladylike as can be, though, that confidence grates on others' nerves--especially her parents. Natsume just never expected that her girlfriend, Ryuugazaki Rai, would have a problem with it, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vegetarian Pizza

**Author's Note:**

> Natsume = Fem Nagisa  
> Rai = Fem Rei  
> Hiro = Fem Haru  
> Mamoru = Fem Makoto
> 
> I needed some genderbent Reigisa something awful, so I wrote up this mini monster.

\--

When Natsume first met Rai, it was like heaven itself had opened up and given her an angel in the form of this pleated-skirt-to-her-knees, glasses-wearing, studios-looking type. Rai seemed to be everything her parents wanted and everything Natsume hated. 

The perfect lady. 

Calm, tidy, organized--

And when they spoke, she realized that Rai even had an intelligent sounding voice. 

Had she been the insecure type, she might have looked down at her too-short school uniform (with the too tight button on her skirt and the uncute kneesocks), and maybe she would have found herself unattractive. 

But as it was, she'd seen Rai and she'd seen someone more than worth pursuing. 

That the swim club would get a fourth member as necessary was just an added bonus.

\--

When they'd first gone out, it had been Nagisa to ask her out, Nagisa to kiss her first, Nagisa to reach for Rai's hand when they walked home together.

She didn't care if it was unladylike. They were friends--girlfriends now--and there wasn't an issue with forcing herself to be 'more than' what she was. For the first time in forever, she was happy with everything, and her parents seemed to be supportive of her choice in date, too. 

(Even if the look they shared over her head seemed to be akin to 'Rai should be a good example on our little Natsume-chan.)

Rai usually seemed irritated with her about something, but Natsume wasn't worried. At the end of the day, Rai knew more or less where the boundaries were. She'd never overstep them, Natsume was sure, and Rai knew what she was getting herself into when she'd said yes to the near hyperactive teen girl.

That is, she'd assumed that Rai knew what she was getting herself into. 

Then the fighting started.

\--

After a busy day testing in most of her least favorite classes, Natsume was more than happy to come home--and especially to come home to an empty house. 

An empty house, after all, meant that she could lie on the couch in her underwear, wear those loose, comfortable shirts that she wasn't allowed to wear any other time since they tended to hang off her shoulder in an unladylike way, and maybe she could even wear those thigh-high socks that she loved so much that she couldn't wear outside her room. 

More importantly, an empty house meant that she could call her girlfriend. 

With a mischievous smile, she picked up the phone and dialed. After all, her parents didn't know she was even interested in girls (a facade that had taken a very long time to perfect), and they'd probably just think that she'd invited her over as a friend or a study partner. Both were true in their own respects, anyways, and so long as they didn't walk in on them kissing, it was safe enough. 

"Rai-chan," she greeted, shifting to lie on her stomach on the couch, legs kicking comfortably into the air. "You should come by for a little while! No one else is home and I have some a problem I need you to help me with." Without pausing to let Rai ask what it was, she continued, "Chemistry problem. Particularly, the chemistry between you and me and why we haven't--" 

Rai sounded scandalized as she cut Natsume off. "If your intentions are what I think they are, there's no way I'm coming over." 

Natsume huffed. "You're no fun. But seriously, please? I promise I won't ask to do anything more than kiss. It's just sort of lonely right now, and it'd be really nice to have you over when we can actually kiss and hold hands and sit closer together... And we could watcch somemovies, maybe, if you want?" 

There was a pause on the other line before Rai sighed, and reluctantly agreed. "I'll be over in fifteen minutes. Please don't invite anyone else." 

"I want time alone with my girlfriend--where in there did you think I'd be inviting someone else? All I want is you, Rai-chan," Natsume said, a bright smile almost audible. 

Rai hung up for such a cheesy line, but she showed up within five minutes anyways. 

\--

Natsume had been wearing a comfortable, fluffy bathrobe when she'd answered the door, so her thigh-highs were probably assumed to be leggings or tights, and Rai didn't spare them more than a glance before coming inside. Rai bowed once, twice, in greeting then shut the door behind her, looking around the house. 

As Natsume had promised, the house was empty. 

"You were telling the truth," she noted. It was less of an awed statement than a simple observation, but Natsume took offense regardless. 

"Well duh," the blonde said, huffing and taking hold of her hand. She led her over to the couch, flopping down and prompting Rai to come sit by (or on) her. "C'mere, it's cold without someone to snuggle up to."

Rai glanced at her girlfriend, probably about to comment on the robe or the 'tights' or anything else she was wearing to warm her up, but it was then that she realized that those tights stopped mid-thigh. The robe had fallen open at the bottom, exposing bright, lacy blue panties that mathed a little too well to the bright blue socks with the lacy tops to them. Rai turned a similar, popular primary color, face close to fingerpaint-red. 

"You... You're not wearing pants," the taller said after a moment, a rather strangled sound to her voice. 

"Well duh. It's not comfortable wearing constricting clothing if I don't have to." Natsume grinned and held her hands out, tugging Rai onto her once Rai had (grudgingly) taken hold. "C'mere, you. You don't have to be so formal. We're home alone, you know?" 

Though she still looked hesitant, Rai reluctantly allowed herself to relax. It was hard to stay too uptight when her girlfriend wanted to cuddle against her. After all, Natsume certainly had a bit of softness to her, and an even softer bathrobe to match. It was borderline impossible not to enoy herself at least a little being next to something (someone) so soft and vibrant and warm. 

"...You mentioned watching movies," Rai said. "Didn't you?" 

Natsume brightened and sat up again. "That's right! What d'you wanna watch? A horror movie? Something light and happy? A comedy? A romance?" That last suggestion was paired with a wink and a waggle of her brows, and Rai turned her head away and pulled a hand to her mouth to hide her laughter. Natsume instantly deemed it a success. 

Once she was sure she wasn't going to laugh (or snort, which she was prone to, hence why she didn't enjoy laughing aloud), Rai cleared her throat and adjusted her collar. "Hm. I think we have plenty of romance. A scary movie, perhaps. Those are fun to analyze." 

"Boo. You can't put 'fun' and 'analyze' in the same sentence, Rai-chan," Natsume complained. A moment later, she stood up and stretched, robe rising once more to expose the lace toppers to the blue socks, and Rai politely turned her head away. "But if that's what you want, I guess it's fine." 

Apparently Natsume had warmed up enough now, because she tossed her robe away onto the floor, as usual having no respect for a perfectly tidy house. She seemed to find no shame, either, in bending over and searching the horror movies, and Rai wasn't sure if she was more horrified by the untoward display of skin, or simply how unladylike her girlfriend was being. 

"You... should really put some pants on," Rai finally said. "It would make me much more comfortable." 

Natsume frowned and looked at her over her shoulder. "I'm more comfortable like this, though," she said, emphasing the 'I' in it. 

A brief, tense silence passed between them with a moment before Natsume apparently found the movie she was looking for and pulled it out with a delighted "AHA!" 

The conversation temporarily behind them, she put the movie in and hopped on the couch. As usual, her sense of 'boundaries' was more than a little skewed, and she ended up sitting close to Rai with her arms around her waist and one leg crossed over onto her lap. If she minded the position, Rai didn't say so, though she did fidget a bit at first. 

The movie wasn't particularly horrifying, as it was animated and meant to be a mildly scary movie for young teenagers, but it was entertaining and Natsume found herself enjoying it--even if she was watching for probably the thirtieth time. 

When it was over, Natsume drooped her head so she could rest it on Rai's shoulder, arms squeezing just a bit. "Did you like it?" 

Rai shifted her head, not to look at her, but to press a soft kiss on that soft, short blonde hair she'd come to love. "It was fine. The likelihood of a house actually being haunted is small, but as for possible supernatural explanations, it wasn't terrible. Not as bad as the movie that tried to say that the house was haunted because a tree had been angry when it was cut down." 

"Yeah, that was a pretty dumb movie. Fun to watch, though," Natsume said with a bright smile. After a moment she pulled away and flopped backwards onto the couch, obviously quite comfortable. The movement had her shirt riding up over her (admittedly rather round) stomach. Natsume was far from insecure, though, and didnt bother shifting it, though it seemed to be bothering Rai. 

The taller girl's hand twitched, aching to reach over and pull it down. But as they had only been dating a few weeks, she wasn't entirely sure what her boundaries were, and how Natsume would take such an action, so she could restrain herself--for now. "It's getting a little late for it, but have you had lunch yet?" Rai asked, half to distract herself from her difficulties regarding Natsume's far cry from ladylike behavior.

Natsume blinked, sitting up just enough to get a better look. As it was uncomfortable on her neck, she shifted so she could lean back on her elbows and half sit up. "Oh. No, not yet. Want to make something together? I'm not allowed to, like, actually try to bake anything, but some rice or something should be fine, and come to think of it there's some sushi my mom wants to get eaten up soon..." 

"Let's do that, then," Rai said. Being a proper lady (or perhaps a gentlewoman, in this case), she offered Natsume a hand up, which the shorter girl took, unable to hide a smile. 

\--

Cooking went well, though Natsume ended up eating probably a bit more than her share. It wasn't really her fault--it was more that she kept forgetting Rai was a vegetarian and 'yes, Natsume, fish counts as meat' and so she simply had to have the meats and fishes that Rai skipped over. 

Rai, who had been taught to eat daintily and as little as necessary and slowly, Natsume's enthusiastic behavior towards eating set her on edge. Every now and again a thought would sneak up on her that she'd have to squash back down, because she just couldn't think something so insulting about something as insignificant as Natsume's waistline, but... 

Natsume's unladylike-ness was starting to grate on her. 

As they were washing dishes (with Natsume making a mess with the soap bubbles), Rai couldn't help but glance over every now and again. There was a boyish look on her face nearly every time, though--with her tongue sticking out and up to the side, a deeply concentrated furrow to her brows. 

Not only that, but Natsume seemed to be trying to have fun with it. If Rai didn't know better, she was trying to play some game with scrubbing circles into the dishes. 

"...When doing chores, it's best to just work to get them done," Rai said. After the words had come out of her mouth, she felt bad, but she felt the need to carry them through, giving Natsume a rather pointed look.  
Natsume stopped mid-scrubbing, turning to frown at her girlfriend. "And? I'd rather do them a fun way than the 'proper' way." 

Rai sighed. Really, she should've known that Natsume's response would be that. "I'd really rather you just get them done." 

"I'll get them done. I never said I wouldn't. I'm just not doing them your way." Natsume paused, biting her lower lip and glancing away. Her voice was a low murmur next, and she sounded just a tinge bitter--it was an odd tone for the bubbly tomboy. "You sound just like them..." 

"Like who?" Rai finished up her last dish and washed and dried her hands. That done, she turned to look her girlfriend over, putting a hand on Natsume's shoulder. "Natsume. Answer me. Like who?" 

There was a rather tense pause--and Natsume's eyes flickered tellingly over to a picture of her parents hanging up in the corner, but she chose not to reply. Instead, she finished up her last dish and hung it to dry in the drying rack. 

"It doesn't matter," Natsume said. "Please--can we just drop it?" 

\--

The argument, while put off for then, was bound to resurface. After all, they hadn't resolved it, and Rai still got angry for some of Natsume's unladylike habits, and Natsume still got frustrated when Rai would comment on it. 

Eventually, it escalated to an argument that had seemed rather trivial to Rai, but had had serious implications for Natsume. 

This time it had started not from washing dishes or going without pants, but from eating habits. It was something that Natsume had no real insecurities about because she was confident, but maybe it was Natsume's lack of shyness that made Rai so angry. 

Whatever it was, when Natsume had suggested having pizza for dinner for the third night in a row ("We'll even get vegetarian topped pizza so there are healthy things on it! C'mon, Rai, you know you want to!"), Rai finally snapped. 

"What is it with you?" Rai asked, voice angry in that calculated way--the way that showed she'd been thinking about this argument for a while but hadn't wanted to say anything before.  
The outburst made Natsume's (previously excited) face turn into a confused frown. "...Huh?"

Rai huffed, sliding her glasses up her nose. "You get mad about your parents telling you to act a certain way, and you get angry with me, and Mamoru and Hiro, but why is it so difficult for you to understand that sometimes you're really supposed to act like a girl?" 

Natsume's frown set deeper, but it had a harder edge to it now. "I'm a girl. I act like me. Therefore, I act like a girl." 

"That's not good enough!" Rai shouted, voice raising in a way it never had before. "You wear indecent things, you're overly cheerful and constantly hanging off of someone--It's like you're flirting with everyone! It's a surprise someone hasn't tried to take advantage of that, but you're always wearing boy's clothes so maybe they just didn't see the appeal."  
Those were words that Rai hadn't even thought of before today, but that didn't make them seem less true when she was angry. 

Still, the accusation was cutting, and Natsume's eyes were wide and hurt for just a second--and Rai wondered if she'd overstepped in this argument--but then they turned hard and cold. It was an expression that didn't fit such a soft, warm, sweet person, and Rai felt guilt trying to mix in with her anger. 

"So you'd rather I change everything that makes me who I am," Natsume said. Her voice was flat. "You want me to change, and for what--it's inconvenient for you?" 

Rai shook her head, and that rage was coming back, even though she knew it'd be better for her to just shut her mouth. "That's not what I said. It's not just inconvenient. It's downright unattractive. You sit with your legs apart, you don't think anything of eating off of other people's plates even after having more than enough for yourself-- You don't take care of your body, either. There's only so much swimming you can do if you're weighed down--" 

The look on Natsume's face was enough to kill. "Out of this house. I don't care if you're my girlfriend or the Emperor. You don't get to talk to someone like that, saying those things."  
It was only then that Rai realized just how much she'd been saying--just how hurtful it was. But she still had the feeling that she was right, that Natsume was being over-sensitive. 

However... 

There was a hurt look under the surface and if Rai looked closer, she might have noticed just how wet Natsume's eyes were. 

\--

They didn't meet up for several days, but when they did, it was Rai to make a peace offering. It was in the form of the vegetarian pizza Natsume had offered before, and while it didn't fix things, it let them sweep it under the rug in favor of preserving their relationship. 

\--

Rai wasn't sure of a time she'd ever been more worried than when Natsume had left home for those panic-inducing few nights. 

Because, while she still didn't really get it when Natsume said she hated when her parents tried to control her or tried to make her act and think and study a certain way, Rai cared about her. And that meant caring and trying to help when her girlfriend had... issues. 

Afterwards, everyone in the swim club had come to help Natsume talk to her parents. It had gone well, all considered, but there was still something bothering Rai, something that she didn't know how to fix.  
"Your parents... mean well, don't they?" she finally said, looking questioningly up at Natsume from the shorter girl's lap. 

Natsume had an almost ironic smile on her face--or was it bittersweet?--and she shook her head. "They want what's best for me. They don't seem to realize that I... The things I value..." She trailed off, tentatively running her fingers through Rai's long, dark hair. "They're things like happiness and love. A career isn't... really what I think about, when I make decisions. I guess that makes me dumb, but following their dreams for me would mean going against the things I value. I'd be miserable if I went along with them just because it was the 'smart' thing." 

Rai closed her eyes and tried to make sense of it, but in her world, happiness and love and smart decisions could all go together. So long as she'd be coming home to Natsume and had a job she liked, she was set as far as happiness went. 

Idly, she wondered why it was that Natsume seemed set on following career paths that steered so far from academics. But, if she'd truly been depressed through those years of prep school... She didn't want to see Natsume that way. So she wouldn't mind, in the end, if Natsume never became successful in school. 

That was enough for her. 

"I understand," she said, and it was only a half truth, but Natsume seemed to understand. She continued running her fingers through her hair as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

\--

Five years passed before Rai fully understood what it was that Natsume had been feeling that day. 

Even after some drama the next year concerning Natsume running from home because of her grades and her parents lecturing her about her style of dress and figure and assumptions about her athletic ability because of it, Rai still hadn't fully 'gotten' it. 

But Natsume was now a kindergarten teacher--perfect for a women of her energy level and enthusiasm--and Rai had become a high school geometry teacher. Their lives were on track and they'd managed to last five years, which is more than Rai's or Natsume's parents had assumed they would. 

The almost-argument could have been forever buried, but for an incident that actually took place with Rai's class during school hours. 

A student had suddenly started crying near the end of class, and as Rai's next period was a prep period, there wasn't really a reason for her to just send the student away. So she'd sat her down and talked to her.  
Maybe it was because Rai was her teacher rather than a friend or a parent, but the girl was almost brutally honest with her. 

Her parents hated that her grades were slipping since she'd joined the art club. She'd been anxious and stressed because she couldn't sleep and her parents had taken away her art supplies because they'd seen an 'inappropriate' art piece about her feeling depressed about them controlling her. They used it an excuse to ground her until she left the art club. 

And Rai... Couldn't help but feel that this almost perfectly matched Natsume's situation once upon a time. 

So she took a breath and told her that "Everything is going to be alright," and that she'd call her parents to talk with them if need be. 

A student needed to have a safe place to go, and if home wasn't it (even though it should be) then school or a club was the next best thing. To take away that safe place could easily push a student into a depression. 

After the situation with the student was resolved (and Rai would be making sure she still got to go to her Art Club and would call her parents if she missed for any reason other than being sick), Rai couldn't help but stay at her desk for a while. 

Though she could probably never fully feel what Natsume had been feeling, or what her student had been feeling, she finally felt like she was on the cusp of really, truly understanding. Once it was time to go home, she tentatively packed up her belongings and went home. 

As usual, Natsume was already home and preparing a delicious meal that probably was too much for either of them that night but just enough that they could have leftovers the next day so at least one of them wouldn't have to struggle to pack a lunch that morning. 

Rai set her things by the door and slipped off her shoes, coming into the kitchen to give Natsume a hug from behind. 

Unlike usual, though, the hug lingered and she rested her chin on Natsume's shoulder. 

"A student started crying in class today," Rai said without prelude. 

Natsume seemed surprised, turning her head to give her a kiss on the cheek, though her hands were too occupied to do anything to touch Rai back. The food still needed constant stirring, after all, and she was balancing stirring three dishes though she only had two hands. "Ah, really? I'd say several of mine did too, but it's kindergarten, so it's not much of a surprise... But, really? Which student?" 

Rai hummed. "I'm not allowed to give her name... But, she..." her voice trailed off, and she found herself getting a little stuck on the words. "She seemed a lot like you. Remember when you left home for two days...?"  
The reminder made Natsume stiffen for a moment, but she didn't sound too bothered when she replied. "Oh?" 

Taking it as encouragement to continue, Rai nodded. "Her parents wanted to kick her out of the art club, because her grades were slipping, and it seemed to be a... 'bad influence.' They found a picture of her expressing her feelings, and they were... rather disturbed at how depressing it looked. They told her to leave, and she ended up crying in my class. We got it worked out, but..." She bit her lip, wondering how to phrase anything else. "But I... I don't think I ever fully understood you, back then. I feel like I do now, for all the good it does." 

Natsume stopped stirring long enough to turn in her arms and give her a proper kiss. "It's alright. Back then we didn't need to understand each other as well as we do now."  
"It would have been nice." 

Rai shifted so she could stir the pan most likely to start burning the soonest, and she ended up saving the dish just in time. 

The two stayed quiet, leaning against each other for a while. Finally, Rai broke the silence again. 

"I shouldn't have said the things I did, when we fought about it. I didn't understand why you seemed to be spurning 'perfectly good' advice. But... I think I understand now." Her eyes held a determined look, and she pushed her glasses up. 

Natsume, for her part, looked more amused than anything else. "You do, huh. Prove it. What was I thinking back then, huh?" 

"You wanted to be you. Any advice designed to change you could only be seen as a sign that whoever was giving the advice wasn't happy with who you were." She paused a moment, then, softer, continued. "And you were right. No one should have asked you to change. You were so confident about yourself, and advice like that... Only serves to make people feel like they're less than what they are." 

The explanation, though not spot on, was apparently close enough to make Natsume smile, and she abandoned dinner entirely to wrap her arms around Rai's neck and pull her in for a proper kiss. "Only took you five years, hm?" 

Rai just smiled lopsidedly before kissing her a bit more firmly back. "Five and a half, if we're being generous." 

"I'll round up to six, then. --We'll be eating at six, too, if you don't let me get back to this, by the way," Natsume said, breaking the kiss abruptly so she could turn and attend to dinner, which was starting to blacken on the bottom of one dish, though the rest were fine. 

It was enough to prompt Rai to set the table, and in the end, they couldn't save dinner anyways. 

Rai ordered a cheese with vegetarian toppings pizza, for old times' sake.


End file.
